Washington gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi stopped by the Brulotte Hop Farms to lay out his plan for Washington’s agriculture industry and respond to the hop farmer’s concerns:

Owners of the farm explained how difficult hops farms can be because of all the equipment necessary to maintain and harvest the crop.

“These are all small business people. You know these are folks that believe they have a product or service that someone else wants and they risk their families entire financial future to chase this dream. And unfortunately having the highest small business failure rates in America they have a less than reasonable shot at success here in Washington. But it doesn’t have to be that way,” said Rossi.

One of the biggest obstacles to maintaining a successful small business is over-taxation, which includes the death tax. It’s hard to keep a small family business afloat if you have to pay half a family member’s worth in taxes when they die. Dino Rossi has vowed to not only cut wasteful spending and taxation, but to oppose the death tax as well.